A reader insists that it’s not the developers that have caused disappointment with Watch Dogs, but the PR and obsession with trailers.

There is a problem, in my eyes at least, that is becoming more and more apparent in modern gaming. Well, I say a problem, but in fairness, for a large proportion of sensible core gamers I don’t think it really is an issue. But sadly, sensible core gamers do not make up the majority of the game buying public. This problem is the video game trailer.

Now I, like the majority of level-headed gamers, tend to take trailers with a pinch of salt. They are the video game equivalent of airbrushing. They are highly controlled, very choreographed snippets of what the game may be like. But with the current furore raging on about how Watch Dogs bears little resemblance to the E3 trailer (shown two years ago, before the next gen was even announced, I may add) it seems as relevant as ever. My question is; is it okay for trailers to be grossly unrepresentative of the final product? The obvious example for this is Aliens: Colonial Marines.

That game was pretty much sold on the trailers alone. Many fans, myself included, had to endure damp boxer shorts for many months leading up to the release of the game, only to find that the trailers were essentially massive lies. They were pre-rendered videos that bore almost no relation to the final product. This, quite rightly so, is often referred to as a bait and switch. Effectively, advertising one product but selling another. This is clearly an abhorrent practice, but can this really be compared to the Watch Dogs drama?

I for one say no. Ignoring the claims of Watch Dogs being the first true next gen game (an odd claim considering it was also released on last gen hardware), I think the trailers for Watch Dogs aren’t the greatest crime ever. Sure, things look different from the E3 2012 trailer, but that was two years ago! A lot can change in two years.

Combine this with the fact that the game has clearly had a rather troubled development time, and I think any sensible gamer could have put together for themselves the fact that Watch Dogs probably wasn’t going to set the world on fire (although it remains a perfectly enjoyable romp). I think all this moaning is entirely unjustified, because at the end of the day it’s what Ubisoft’s PR department is meant to do. Trailers are meant to make you want to buy the game. If they didn’t I’m pretty sure the PR guys would find themselves well and truly out of a job.

It does, however, raise another issue. In those halcyon days, where there existed this lost technology called a demo, gamers had a true chance to see the game for themselves, often months before a release. Bad demos often led to games being reworked, but nowadays it seems that flashy trailers have almost completely replaced demos. This is a practice I personally see as faintly anti-consumer. It takes the power away from us, the game buying public, and instead leaves it in the hands of PR departments.

But as I have previously mentioned, the wily gamers know that a trailer is just that. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said for the majority. They see trailers, they see telly ads, and these are what informs their decisions. We are in a situation where poor games are selling better than critically acclaimed games because of PR. And I can see why some gamers are pretty peeved at this.

The trailer culture that has arisen is bad, in my opinion, because it puts emphasis on graphics over gameplay, incentivising developers to make shiny but shallow games. It is bad because a good PR team can make any steaming pile of colonial marines look good. It is bad because trailers are often misleading, whether deliberately or just due to the changing nature of game development. But overall, I think it is bad because they have effectively replaced demos.

Once, we the gamers had the ultimate power to test a game and decide for ourselves, forcing devs to concentrate on gameplay over aesthetics. Now, much like Hollywood, many publishers and devs are cottoning on to the fact that a well edited trailer is more successful at shipping units than a good game. This not only erodes trust in the devs, but tends to stifle creativity, and this can only be bad for the industry as a whole.

So in summary, the next time you see an amazing trailer and rush to pre-order, just stop and think about how the game may change. Think about the fact that this trailer has been specifically designed not to show off the game, but to elicit a response from you. A very specific response. All a trailer is really trying to say to you is ‘BUY ME’. And that, my friends, is why you should never fully trust a trailer.

By reader StalinsEpicTash

The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.